The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State, has sentenced a staff of Ecobank PLC, Solomon Stephen Ufayo to one year imprisonment for cybercrime.
Ufayo was arraigned on May 16, 2025, by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one count charge of cybercrime involving the sum of N2,404,000.
The charge read:
“That you, Solomon Stephen Ufayo, between the 10th and 28th day of March 2025, in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, while employed as a Relief Teller at Ecobank Nigeria Limited, fraudulently represented yourself as Ogunfodunrin Omowunmi Ajoke by posting false deposit and withdrawal tellers on her Ecobank account number 2801086259 with intent to gain an advantage for yourself, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 22, 2, b, i, of the Cybercrime, Prohibition, Prevention, etc. Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22, 2, b, of the same Act.”
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Ufayo pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him.
Following his plea, prosecution counsel Abdulhamid Tukur called EFCC operative David Gajere to present the facts of the case. Gajere testified that Ufayo, in his role as a Relief Teller, impersonated a customer, Omowunmi Ajoke, and posted false deposit transactions to her account. He then used falsified withdrawal slips to transfer a total of N2,404,000 into his own Opay account.
Gajere also informed the court that the defendant provided a voluntary statement and issued a bank draft for N2,404,000 as restitution to the victim.
At the sentencing, Ufayo appealed for leniency, explaining that he committed the offence out of desperation as his wife was pregnant and he needed financial assistance.
Presiding judge Justice Yellim Bogoro sentenced him to one year in prison with an option of a N500,000 fine. Additionally, the court ordered him to perform two weeks of community service.
THE CONCLAVE
